2010 College Aviation Report
Aviation Bridge Programs: What do you really get?
If someone told you they would guarantee you access to your dream job if you paid them $100,000 or more, would you do it? What if that job paid a starting salary of $20,000? Thousands of young people sign up for classes every year at some of the best aviation universities in the country under the notion that paying for the education will get them in the right seat of an airliner—a notion strengthened in part by bridge programs. But despite the sobering figures, for many, it will be one of the best investments they will ever make.
Airline bridge programs are structured agreements between an aviation university and an airline (flight academies also have them, but many don’t offer a degree). The premise among all of them is basically the same: Enroll in a university, take certain classes, and upon graduation you will be guaranteed an interview with an airline—a chance at that dream job. But are students actually receiving what’s promised to them, and do these programs actually work?
“Students aren’t being interviewed right now,” said Brian Carhide, head of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s bridge programs at the Daytona Beach, Florida, campus. “Right now they’re basically on hold. Once the hiring picks up again, the companies have indicated to us that they’ll honor them again.”
Carhide, who manages programs with multiple airlines, has been in the industry long enough to know. He’s seen numerous hiring cycles, and history has told him that hiring will pick up again. But to a student who enrolled in Embry-Riddle’s program expecting an interview, the economic slowdown and airline labor surplus means he’ll graduate without the path into the carrier. According to Carhide, student expectation hasn’t been an issue. He said that most students know what it takes to get to the airlines, and they are generally aware of the current labor situation.
At Kansas State University in Salina, the story is much the same. K-State developed a bridge program with regional carrier Mesaba a few years ago. “We haven’t promoted our bridge program in a while because hiring has almost stopped,” said Kurt Barnhart, head of the school’s aviation department. Barnhart said students haven’t complained, partially because they aren’t as interested in the airlines as they were 20 years ago. “Students have a broader interest in aviation as a career rather than just an ultimate goal of a left seat of an air carrier,” he said. “They don’t see themselves as a 30-year employee of United.” Barnhart stressed that lack of demand, combined with lack of hiring, is what ultimately led to the slowdown in interviews.
The situation at Arizona State University’s program with Mesa Pilot Development appears quite similar. ASU’s bridge agreement with Mesa Air Group is a closer relationship than ERAU’s programs or K-State’s agreement with Mesaba. The flight program was developed in concert with Mesa Pilot Development, and from day one students are indoctrinated into Mesa’s operating style. At the end of their time at ASU, students are guaranteed an interview, and most assume they will be hired.
“Within the past year, we’ve had to maintain them as a pilot pool,” said Mickey Moman, general manager of Mesa Pilot Development. “They’re technically hired, and will be called off a list.” Moman said that new graduates are still being interviewed, and most are instructing while they wait for hiring to pick up again.
So if that’s the situation with bridge programs in a down economy, it’s logical to think they are much better when airline hiring is strong, as it was just two years ago. “It was successful two years ago when the airlines were hiring. We had a number go directly to ASA and several to Pinnacle,” said Carhide.
Matt Olson was one of the lucky ones. Olson worked hard at Embry-Riddle, graduated in three years with a degree and 500 hours, and was hired by not one but two airlines less than a month after receiving his diploma. “Without the bridge program, I would absolutely not be where I am today,” he said.
Olson knows his timing was perfect. ASA, which hired him first, initially deferred his class date and put him in a hiring pool. The day after he put in his notice to become a full-time flight instructor at Embry-Riddle, Pinnacle called and offered a job with a class date only two weeks away. For him, it was the culmination of clear vision and hard work.
“Things work very accelerated at Riddle,” he said. The bridge program, especially, puts students in an environment where they become familiar with airline training. At Embry-Riddle, like most schools, to be eligible for the promised interview, students have to take a course that involves some sort of jet simulator training. There, Olson was trained on the basics of flying in a crew environment. “If I hadn’t taken that bridge program there’s no way I would have been able to pass that simulator interview,” he said. “Bridge agreements aside, if I hadn’t done that, I would have had a difficult time in training.”
Olson said he was driven and knew he wanted to do the bridge program early in his time at Embry-Riddle, so the cost of tuition wasn’t as much of a factor. “A lot of people have a hard time justifying the cost,” he said. “I would say it’s worth it.” Besides the bridge training, Olson said that other courses at Embry-Riddle, such as advanced aircraft systems, aviation physiology, and others, helped him prepare for life as an airline pilot.
Hundreds of students at K-State, ASU, Embry-Riddle, and other colleges and universities are hoping airline hiring picks up soon because the bridge programs really do seem to get graduates in the door sooner than applicants off the street. “I know one guy at the airline who was hired from a bridge program with less than 200 hours,” Olson said.
Mesa’s Moman said that when students do make it through the program, it seems to work. “More than 96 percent of students who were interviewed were hired,” he said. “And no one has failed initial training at Mesa. Compare that to an 8-percent failure rate for those off the street.” Ron Karp, who ran the program at ASU for a number of years, said that students come back and tell him airline training was just a review.
“Anecdotally, we heard that students who were hired at Mesaba were hired with fewer hours than those off the street,” said K-State’s Barnhart. “The bridge program also allowed us to identify areas in our curriculum that we needed to modify to make the transition easier for students.”
Schools set up the programs for any number of reasons, not the least of which is marketing. But Barnhart said it’s more than that. “We wanted to provide opportunities for our students,” he said. “We wanted to give them something to shoot for.”
Although most bridge agreements guarantee only an interview, Embry-Riddle has developed a unique program with JetBlue and Cape Air that all but guarantees a student employment after college. Students interview to gain entry to the program around their sophomore year. If selected, they’ll complete an internship at Cape Air, instruct at Embry-Riddle after graduation for a year, go to fly for Cape Air for a little more than two years, and then move on to JetBlue. So far there are around 50 students participating in different phases. It remains to be seen whether the airlines will honor the commitment of hiring them for a pilot job upon completion. If so, it appears to be the first university-based program of its kind in the nation that practically guarantees a path to a major national carrier.
Whether the chance of an interview, the promise of some simulator time, or the prospect of a dream job, airline bridge programs are important selling points for universities and guaranteed talent for the airlines. It’s one carrot that actually delivers.
Deputy Editor Ian J. Twombly holds commercial pilot certificates for airplane single engine and multiengine land and single engine sea. He is also a CFII.
